Older People At Risk of Foreclosures

According to AARP, more than three million borrowers over the age of 50 years old are at risk of losing their homes to foreclosure. The local West Palm Beach movers learned that over 1.5 million homeowners age 50 and older have already gone through the foreclosure process, resulting the foreclosure rate among that group to 2.9% as of last year. Back in 2007, that rate was only 0.3%. Another 3.5 million had underwater home mortgages. It use to be that older Americans already owned their homes outright, but these days they're carrying debt and mortgages that are 20 years old.

The local West Palm Beach moving specialists learned that in 2010, 24.2% of 75 and older people held mortgages. That number back in 1989 was 6.3%. According to the Federal Reserve, over that same time period, the amount of mortgage debt this group help jumped to $52,000. It use to be only $11,800. Many of these older borrowers had subprime loans and were often convinced to refinance their mortgage for more than they owned so they can use the extra money for repairs and paying other bills. These subprime loans had low interest rates for the first few years but then increases later on, making it really hard for people to continue paying their mortgages.

The decreased home values (dropping 34% since 2006) didn't help the situation and states where many retirees lived such as Florida and Arizona were suddenly at a high risk of foreclosures. Plus, it's harder or an older population to recover financially, because many of these people have a fixed income. Even if they're part of the working economy, if they lost their job, it would be harder for them to get hired as opposed to a younger person. There are recommendations of newer foreclosure prevention programs for older borrowers that include review and mediation as well as more enforcement against foreclosure prevention scams. The All My Sons of West Palm Beach found out that nearly half of these scams promising to save people's home while taking upfront fees roped in older Americans who collectively lost $16 million.